The Boom in Network Business Models

As the Trends editors explained in the period leading up to the “tech wreck,” a certain class of business models is uniquely positioned to leverage the so-called “Metcalfe effect.” We also explained that even those models were doomed to fail if they were launched prematurely. As we predicted, few survived. Now, nearly 10 years later, attitudes, technologies, and demographics all favor this type of start-up. As a result, in the past year, we’ve witnessed an explosion of exciting new businesses incorporating a network-style model. Many of these will fail, too; b.....